The present invention relates generally to sealing systems for multiple pane windows and more specifically to sealing systems for dual pane windows utilized in movable side glass of automotive vehicles.
The desire of the automotive industry to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of automobile bodies has resulted in a great deal of attention being given to the design of movable side window systems for automobiles. It has been found desirable to provide for positioning the outer surface of the side windows in their closed positions in substantially coplanar relationship with the adjacent outer surfaces of the vehicle body. While some success has been achieved in defining this coplanar relationship, generally referred to as "flushness," it has been recognized that the lower edge of vertically movable vehicle side windows tend to be more offset from the adjacent vehicle body surfaces than the other edges of the window at the point in which the window is raised upwardly out of the interior of the vehicle door.
One recent response to this perceived deficiency is to provide a dual pane assembly for the side windows of a vehicle which is guided in raising and lowering along a weld flange created in the assembly of inner and outer panels of the door. U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,173 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,174 to Mesnel et al, illustrate this assembly. The sealing system proposed for use with this assembly, however, does not provide as effective a seal as is considered desirable. The sealing system exemplified in the patents to Mesnel et al. provide a guide member carried on the joint flange of the door which engages outer peripheral edges of the window panes in lip seal fashion. If the motion of a dual pane side window of an automotive vehicle is not accomplished by direct engagement on the door panel joining flange, as indicated in the exemplary patents to Mesnel et al, such a sealing system would be considerably less effective than that contemplated there since the guiding of the central portion of the seal within the window panes may not effect sliding sealing engagement.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a sealing system for slidably movable dual pane side windows of automotive vehicles which provides improved extended sealing surfaces between the dual pane window and the automotive vehicle body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a sealing system which facilitates stable positioning of the movable dual pane side window within the vehicle body.